Chiawa Camp

The original Lower Zambezi luxury lodge, Chiawa Camp greets the eye as a thatched-roof monument of impressive proportions. Beyond the open-walled lounge and greeting area are nine platform tents. They’re comfortable, to say the least—indoor and outdoor showers, mahogany furniture, timbered decks where you can sit and listen to the hippos snorting—but retain a faint element of rusticity. (The sister property, nearby Old Mondoro, is more basic.) I had a wonderful, fresh lunch aboard a pontoon boat, and went angling for the river’s famous tiger fish—sadly, this being their quiet season, the only thing I hooked was a tree branch. Thrilling night drives are conducted here, using red light filters that are thought to be less disturbing to game animals.